Pump plunger with elastic material wear take-up surface



Sept.

Filed 195-7v J. B. BLAKELY ET AL 2,8-06,753

PUMP PLUNGER WITH ELASTIC MATERIAL WEAR TAKE-UP SURFACE June 21, 1956 2 Sheqts-Sheet 1 A krl4 A Jim B. Blake/y g James W, Morris INVENTORS,

- BY 1 M5? Sept. 17, 1957 J. B. 'BLAKELY ET AL 7 2,806,753

PUMP PLUNGER WI R ELASTIC MATERIAL WEAR TAKE-UP SURFACE Filed June 21, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig.7'

Jim 8. Blake!) A James W. Morris INVENTORS,

United rates PUMP PLUNGER WITH ELASTIC MATEREAL WEAR TAKE-UP SURFACE This invention comprises a novel and useful pump plunger with an elastic wear take-up surface and more particularly relates to an improved packing construction for a pump plunger adapted for deep well pumping operations.

The primary purpose of this invention is to provide an improved pump plunger characterized by a packing means which will greatly reduce wear upon the pump plunger and its barrel, and will greatly increase the normal life expectancy of a pump.

A further object of the invention is to provide a pump plunger construction wherein the packing means of the same will minimize the abrasive efifects of sand particles upon the packing, plunger and barrel of a deep well pump.

A further object of the invention is to provide a packing construction for a pump plunger wherein the packing may be radially expanded in order to take-up wear on the packing or pump barrel, thereby greatly increasing the life of the packing.

A still further important object of the invention is to provide an improved pump plunger wherein a cylindrical packing member in the form of a sleeve of a resilient elastic material may be applied to the arbor of a pump together with easily adjusted means for causing radial expansion of the packing sleeve at longitudinally spaced points thereon for the purposes of taking up wear between the pump and the barrel.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure l is a vertical central sectional view through a portion of a well tubing showing a pump plunger in accordance with this invention applied thereto;

Figure 2 is a view taken upon an enlarged scale in vertical central section through the pump plunger to which the principles of this invention have been incorporated;

Figures 3, 4, and are horizontal detail views taken substantially upon the plane indicated by the section lines 3-3, 44 and 5-5 respectively of Figure 2;

Figure 6 is a group perspective view of the various elements making up the novel pump plunger and its packing means; and

Figure 7 is a perspective view, parts being broken away, of the stiffening and reinforcing members which are embedded in the packing sleeve of the assembly.

in certain wells, and especially in deep wells, such as those in oil bearing formations, it is customary in wells which will not flow under the formation pressure, to resort to various types of pumping means for causing a flow of the fluid from the producing formation. Frequently, for this purpose, a string of tubing is introduced into the well bore into the productive formation, and the lower end of this tubing constitutes a pump barrel having a atertt ice foot valve or standing valve at its open lower end for permitting the passage of fluid upwardly, but preventing downward flow. Reciprocable in the barrel portion of the tubing is a pump plunger which is carried by the lower end of a string of rods constituting the sucker rods of the pump and to which reciprocatory motion is imparted by a suitable mechanism at the surface of the ground, in order to effect vertical reciprocation of the plunger in the barrel.

The plunger is usually tubular, having a non-return valve at its lower end whereby upon reciprocation of the plunger in the barrel, fluid trapped in the barrel by the downstroke of the plunger may pass into the hollow interior of the same, and then be trapped and lifted on the upward stroke in a manner well understood in the art.

In assemblies such as this, and especially in oil wells and the like, the inflow of fluid into the pump barrel is usually accompanied by more or less fine sand carried by the fluid and in suspension therewith. This sand acts as an abrasive between the pump plunger and the barrel, producing wear anddamage, destroying the packing or sealing engagement of the pump plunger with the barrel, and in time necessitates pulling the pump in order to replace the plunger and/ or barrel.

It is the primary intent of the present invention to provide a greatly improved construction for reducing to a a minimum the requirement for replacing the packing of the pump plunger and the delays incident to interruption of the pumping operation for the purpose of replacing worn packings.

Referring now more specifically to the accompanying drawings, it will be seen that the numeral 10 indicates a section of tubing, and which may constitute the lower end of the same forming the barrel of the pump, in which is reciprocable a pump plunger indicated generally by the numeral 12. The latter is customarily attached at its upper end to the lower extremity of a length of sucker or pump rods, in a manner not shown, and its lower end is customarily provided with a non-return valve whereby fluid may be caused to pass into and through the pump plunger, but since this construction is also well-known, and in itself forms no part of the present invention, an illustration and description of the same has been deemed to be not necessary.

Referring now to Figure 2 it will be seen that the pump plunger 12 includes a tubular member 14 constituting an arbor and which is open at its upper and lower ends. External threads 16 and 18 are provided upon the exterior of the arbor at its upper and lower ends respectively for a purpose to be subsequently set forth, and as shown in Figure 6, the arbor is provided with a plurality of conical portions 20 which are spaced axially or longitudinally of the arbor. Snugly but slidably embracing the conical portions of the arbor is a cylindrical sleeve 22 constituting the packing member of the plunger and which in the present instance is composed of an elastic of any desired nature such-as one of the synthetic plastics. By virtue of its soft yielding and deformable surface, the elastic material 22 will permit grains of sand penetrating into the pump barrel to be embedded or pressed into the surface 22 which will yield under the same to receive such grains. Thus, the abrasive effects of the grains upon the barrel of the pump is greatly reduced in view of the yielding action of the surface of the pump plunger.

It will be observed that when the packing sleeve is placed upon the conical portions of the arbor, that the diametrically enlarged ends of the conical portions will produce a slight radial expansion of the packing sleeve thereat, to thus cause the packing to seal against the wall of the pump barrel.

Figure '7', these stiffening members-may consist of a'plurality of circumferentially arcuately extending metallic strips as at 24, and which strips are preferably provided with suitable perforations 26"therethr ough. The ends of these strips open upon the opposite ends of the packing member and the strips are thusembedded therein with the material of the packing member extending through the apertures 26 for securely embedding and bonding the V rubber-like material tothe stitf eners.

Asshown in Figures 2- and 5, together with Figure 6, there' is a relatively thin layer of elastic material inside ofthe stiffening members, and-a relatively thick layer of the same on the'exterior thereof? 7 It will now be apparent that upon axial movement of the packing sleeve upon the arbor, that as the portions of the sleeve approach the diametrically enlarged ends of the conical portions 20, that a radial expansion will be given to the sleeve through" the members 24 and thus produce radially distended portions o'f the exterior surface of the packing sleeve to thereby take-up for any wear between the sleeve and the pump barrel and restore or increase the sealing engagement of the packing sleeve with the barrel.

in order to eifect suchaxial'movement, there are provided a pair of spacer or thrust collars 28 which are slidably received upon the arbor at opposite ends of the sleeve 22, and which are adapted to abut against the end of the stiffeningand reinforcing members 24, whereby axial movement imparted to the collars will be directly applied to the stifiening members and from thence to the sleeve of elastic material.

A pair of adjusting nuts 30 are engaged upon the opposite threaded eXtremities-of'thearbor and abut against the ends of the collars 28 for imparting axial adjusting movement thereto, while lock nuts 32 are also threaded upon the ends of the arbor for locking and securing the packing member in adjusted position upon the arbor.

It Will thus be apparent that as the axially spaced circumferentially extending portions of the elastic sleeve which are contiguous to each of the enlarged diameters of the conical portions 20 are worn, that it will be a very simple matter to manipulate the'nuts 30 and 32 and thus move the entire sleeve axially a selected distance along the arbor, and thus cause an unv'orn portion of the sleeve to be radially expanded into a tight new sealing engagement with the pump barrel.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and-operation shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling Within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

17 A pump plunger comprising aarbor, a cylindrical radially expansible packing sleeve surrounding said arbor and movable axially thereof, means responsiveto relative axial movement of the arbor andsleeve for causing radial expansion of the sleeve, means on saidarbor for causing relative axial movement of the arbor and sleeve and for securing the same in axially adjusted position, said sleeve comprising a continuous tube'of a resilient rubber-like material.

2. A pump plunger comprising a arbor, a cylindrical radially expansible packing sleeve surrounding said arbor soft and deformable nature and movable axially thereof, means responsive to relative axial movement of the arbor and sleeve for causing radial expansion of the sleeve, means on said arbor for causing relative axial movement of the arbor and sleeve and for securing the same in axially adjusted position,

. said sleeve consisting of a resilient rubber-like material,

axially extending reinforcing members embedded in said sleeve. r

3. A pump plunger comprising a arbor, a cylindrical radially expansible packing sleeve surrounding said arbor and movable axially thereof, means responsive to relative axial movement of the arbor. and sleeve for causing radial expansion of the sleeve, means on said arbor for causing relative axial movement of the arbor and sleeve and for securing the same in axially adjusted position, said sleeve consisting of a resilient rubber-like material, axially extending reinforcing members embedded in said sleeve, said members being arcuate circumferentially of said sleeve. I V j 4. A pump plunger comprising a arbor, a cylindrical radially expansible packing sleeve surrounding said arbor and movable axially thereof, means responsive to'relative axial movement of the arbor and sleeve for causing radial expansion of the sleeve, means on said arbor for causing relative axial movement of the arbor and sleeve and for securing the same in axially adjusted position, said sleeve consisting of a resilient rubber-like material, axially extending reinforcing members embedded in said sleeve, said members being arcuate circumferentially of said sleeve, and opening upon the two end surfaces of the sleeve for engagement by said last mentioned means.

5. A pump plunger comprising a arbor, a cylindrical radially expansible packing sleeve surrounding said arbor and movable axially thereof, means responsive to relative axial movement of the arbor and sleeve for causing radial expansion of the sleeve, means on said? arbor for causing relative axial movement of the arbor'and sleeve and for securing the same in axially adjusted position, said sleeve consisting of a resilent rubber-like material, axially extending reinforcing members embedded in said sleeve, said members being arcuate circumferentially of said sleeve, and opening upon the two end surfaces of the sleeve for engagement by said last mentioned means, said members having apertures therethrough for receiving said plastic material.

6. A pump plunger comprising a arbor, a cylindrical radially expansible packing sleeve surrounding said arbor and movable axially thereof, means responsive to relative axial movement of the arbor and sleeve for causing radial expansion of the sleeve, means on said arbor for causing relative axial movement of the arbor and sleeve and for securing the same in axially adjusted position, said first mentioned meanscomprising longitudinally spaced conical portions on said arbor.

7. A pump plunger comprising a arbor, a cylindrical radially expansible packing sleeve surrounding said arbor and movable axially thereof, means responsive to relative axial movement of the arbor and sleeve for causing radial expansion of the sleeve, means on said arbor for causing relative axial movement of the arbor and sleeve and for securing the same in axially adjusted position, said first mentioned means comprising longitudinally spaced conical portions on said arbor, said last mentioned means comprising nuts threaded upon said arbor at opposite ends of said sleeve.

References Cited irr the file'of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,539,229 Akeyson May 26, 1925 

